(Photo courtesy of stevekmccoy.com)
By Amanda Munro, Staff Writer munroa15@up.edu
In a time when one in five people between the ages of 18 and 28 have iPods or MP3 players (according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project), it's hard to imagine walking into a college study space without seeing students wearing ear buds. Music serves to isolate students from audible distractions and create a private, enjoyable atmosphere while they work. But recent studies show that listening to music while studying may actually harm learning ability.
Stanford University professor and researcher of human-technology interaction Clifford Nass and University of Toronto psychology professor and researcher of music and cognition Glenn Schellenberg found that although music can be helpful in creating an ideal mood for studying, listening to music with lyrics usually has a negative effect on writing or reading. Lyrics appeal to the language center of the brain, so when students are doing language-related work, focusing on the music and their work at the same time can be difficult.
Sophomore Evan Mackall listens to music every time he studies.
"If I'm reading or writing a paper, I'll listen to acoustic. But if I'm doing something like math or Spanish, I'll listen to rock or something more upbeat," Mackall said. Mackall reports that acoustic or instrumental music helps him think.
"Sometimes I listen to Native American instrumental music," Mackall said. "The drums and flutes are really relaxing."
Listening to music while studying could help with mood and focus as long as students avoid lyrical music while doing language-based work according to Nass and Schellnberg. However, researchers at the University of Wales conducted a study which found that students had a harder time memorizing when listening to music, regardless of whether they liked the music or not. Researchers asked participants between the ages of 18 and 30 to memorize and then recall a list of letters in order under different background noise conditions, including quiet, music they liked, music they didn't like, a voice saying random numbers, and a voice repeating the number three. Participants in this study did better when listening to the voice repeating the number three or while studying in silence.
Music major David Yee prefers quiet studying, but is still able to work in a musical environment.
"I prefer not to listen to music, but I can. It just takes more energy and power to focus," Yee said.
Yee says he likes to listen to every part of the music and study the song itself, so it's difficult to focus on something else when music is playing.
"I consider listening to music an active activity rather than a passive activity," he said. "If I'm running or doing yoga, I'll listen to music. But when I'm reading or writing or trying to comprehend what I read, I feel like it's best to do that without music."
Education professor Eric Anctil believes that whether or not music is beneficial depends on the person.
"Some people like to study in quiet, some people like a crowded coffee house, and some people like music in the background," Anctil said. "As educators, we have to be more open minded about the different environments that support student learning."
Anctil believes that if students enjoy listening to music while studying and they feel it makes them a better student, that's what they should do, whether the research points otherwise or not.
"Demonstrating the learning link is important for marketers who want to sell you Einstein CDs and tell you how Bach will make you better at Algebra," Anctil said.
He does agree that listening to lyrical music while doing language-based work could affect concentration, the same way it would be difficult to take notes in a room while two other people are talking. But Anctil believes that the important thing is to relax and not worry so much about what the science says about our study habits.
"If lyrics are distracting, don't listen to music with lyrics," Anctil said. "It's not like you're adopting a cat and can't get rid of it. If it's distracting, turn it off!"
Whether or not listening to music affects the ability to study may depend on the person. For those who like a musical atmosphere while studying, but would like to maintain reading comprehension and writing skills, creating an instrumental music playlist may be the answer.
